Nigerian House of Reps Electoral Act Overhaul – February 17 2026
On Tuesday, 17 February 2026, the Nigerian House of Representatives scheduled a major legislative move to scrap and replace the Electoral Act of 2022 with an entirely new Electoral Bill. The sitting also included a motion to reverse a December 2025 vote on an earlier Electoral Act amendment after technical experts flagged errors and inconsistencies in the bill. These proceedings directly affect how elections are conducted across Nigeria.
The House of Representatives sat on Tuesday, 17 February 2026, with electoral reform dominating the agenda.
First, the House considered a motion sponsored by Hon. Francis E. Waive to rescind — meaning cancel and redo — a vote it had taken on 23 December 2025, when it passed the Electoral Act (Amendment) Bill, 2025. The motion explained that a Technical Committee made up of leadership from both the House and Senate, conference committee members, clerks, and legal drafting experts had met and found anomalies and inconsistencies in that bill. The House was asked to send the bill back to a Committee of the Whole for fresh consideration.
Second, and more significantly, the House scheduled a Committee of the Whole sitting to consider HB. 2479 — a bill that would fully repeal the existing Electoral Act No. 13 of 2022 and replace it with a brand new Electoral Bill, 2026. This new bill would govern the conduct of federal, state, and FCT Area Council elections.
On the committee side, two panels were scheduled to meet: the Rules and Business Committee and the Public Petitions Committee, which held an investigative hearing — both at 3:00 p.m. in the National Assembly Complex.
